The two managers that were on duty are accused of ignoring repeated warnings for months from private inspectors. The managers were told that the site had "treacherous conditions."

New York city has a law that trenches over 5 feet deep must have walls to prevent it from caving. This trench was 14 feet deep with no support.

The morning of the collapse, a private inspector warned the managers of the danger of the trench. At that time it was 7 feet deep. The managers did nothing. When the trench got to thirteen feet deep, the managers told the workers in English (the workers did not speak english) to get out of the trench. OSHA requires that workers be told safety directions in a language they can understand (check out our toolbox safety talk best practices post for more tips). The men didn't understand, so kept working. A few minutes later the trench collapsed.

Two weeks ago, a stop-work order was put on the site because of a "pattern of risky behavior" and violations that were "harardous to the public."